What is your story? Socially speaking.
As a business owner, there are many data points to review when it comes to social media. If analyzed correctly, this data showcases everything from your biggest wins to places that could use a bit of improvement. With the tide of digital marketing ebbing towards social media platforms more every year, it is vital to review your metrics and start strategizing for the future now. Your social media campaigns are increasingly the fastest, most reliable, and continuous way to connect with your audience. If you know what to look for, your social media stats clearly outline your digital marketing strategy! But where to start?!
Translate those stats into your strategy.
Often, it can be challenging to know which social stat needs the most focus. Is my follower count high enough? Am I on the right platform? Is anyone listening? Do I compare impressions vs. engagement rate or organic traffic vs. ad traffic? And that doesn’t even begin to cover what it all means! There is a lot to decipher, especially if you don’t know the “language”; we get it. We’re here to give you some insider tips (and translations) to help you better understand how to read your Social Story!
Don’t ask how many. Ask who are they?
An easy metric to track is your follower count; most business owners get stuck on this because of its simplicity. Don’t get stuck and remember the adage, “Quality over Quantity.” Having a large following is beneficial, but having engaged, loyal, and enthusiastic followers are vital. No matter how many people click that follow button, your brand/business doesn’t grow without people who want to share your content, spread your voice, and buy your products or services. “So if we aren’t looking at the number of people, what should we look at?” Great question!
The most informative question is, “who are my followers?” The answer to this question can teach you which platform is the most profitable for you to invest time and energy on! It’s crucial to know their age demographics, where they live, and some of their common interests. Your social stats can answer all of these questions and more! You can learn if you need to make changes in your strategy to widen your follower base or if you’d like to hone in on your key demographic. Pull your social media metrics and answer the following questions to understand better who your audience is.
When is your audience online? (This will guide you on when to post content)
What type of content did your audience engage with the most last year? (Videos, GIFs, links, still images?) This will be crucial to creating a plan for future content.
What category of content received the most engagement? For example, did you see more engagement on a picture of your staff or a list of your product services?
Which audience demographic is reached the most by your content? Discover the age, gender, and location of your followers to help guide your future trends.
It’s not how many you reach, but who is reaching back out.
Another metric that is deceptively attractive to watch climb week after week is impressions. Impressions are the number of times your content is viewed by a user. We aren’t saying impressions aren’t important; they are. You want your content to be seen, and then seen again, and then again and again! However, impressions are not the most useful metric to track how often your content is truly seen. “Well, then what is?!” So glad you asked!
Remember how we said you want “engaged, loyal, and enthusiastic followers”? There’s our hint right there, engaged. Your engagement rate is strategically crucial in growing a successful and profitable business. The engagement rate tracks the number of interactions with your content. When a user likes, shares, or comments on a post, you’ve made a connection with them—further building your online community of brand ambassadors. Every click counts!
Okay, back to your metrics, with a few more thought-provoking questions:
Do you measure your post engagement rate? (The number of engagements divided by impressions)
What conversations are happening with your page? How and why are people mentioning your brand?
Were you getting comments or messages? Were they positive or negative?
Don’t wait for them to come to you! Meet them where they are.
We have time for one final tip! But before we give all our secrets away, please know if you have questions about anything we’ve gone over in this blog, shoot us an email. The easiest way to get rid of any anxiety you may have about your digital marketing strategy is by having a clear plan moving forward. The Betsy Babes want to make sure that you feel confident about your social media strategy as those New Year bells chime!
Okay, this should be the year of boosting posts and creating ad content. You may wonder, “Why do I need to create posts and content on my Facebook/Instagram, etc. if ads are where it’s at?” Or perhaps you’re thinking, “Why should I pay for social media advertising in addition to all the organic work on my pages?” You really have all the best questions today!
Your social media pages are the home of your business; hand-in-hand with your website, people look to your pages to understand who you are. Having consistent content on your pages shows potential customers that you are a relevant brand that engages with your community. This is how brand loyalty is built. But without ads and boosted content to help invite people into your home, they may never get a chance to fall in love with the space that you’ve created.
Keeping a budget for ads and boosted content allows you to be seen by those who might not have discovered you otherwise. Your brand’s biggest fan might not have heard of you until that Facebook ad popped up on their feed. Maybe you’ve purchased some ads already and don’t know how to understand how well they did. Or are you wondering if your current numbers could be improved? Here are a few ad-related questions to ask yourself before moving forward.
Do you measure conversions? If so, how do you measure conversions? How much of your following are active? Are you tracking the ROI?
Are you measuring the click-through-rate? This is the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions, multiplied by 100.
Have you set SMART (Specific, measurable, assignable, relevant, time-based) goals for your advertising strategy?
Want some help? We are here!
At the end of it all, we at Betsy Bash understand that you have a lot of numbers to review and analyze; maybe social media metrics are at the bottom of your list. We would love the opportunity to explain how and why your social media metrics can tell your most important story! If you are interested in learning more or would like some help reading through all the stats, book a FREE 30-minute consultation with our CEO Lauren Ramsey today. Let us help you!